Happily Never After
by omens
Summary: Road tripping it to Vegas isn't as cool as you might think. Ellie, Craig, Spinner, Paige, Jay, and Mia centric. Written as a request for Meagan over at DB.
1. Chapter 1

**Name: **Chris

**Title: **Happily Never After

**Genre: **General/Romance

**Rating: **T

**Summary: **Road tripping it to Vegas isn't as cool as you might think.

_**A/N: Written as a request for Meagan (moirariordan) over at DB. **_

…0...

"Tell me again how all of this happened."

Craig looked over at Ellie sullenly from his side of the bench. If he were a different kind of guy he would have seriously thought about just leaving her there, but how low would that

be? As nuts as she had been acting the past few days he couldn't very well just abandon her in jail.

"Oh yeah," she said. "I was stupid enough to accept your collect call. I won't make that mistake again."

Craig snorted. "Believe me, you won't be my first call the next time."

Ellie sat up on the moldy old cot and fixed him with a withering stare. "There won't be a next time because when we get out of here, I'm going to kill you. Or never speak to you again. Whichever comes first."

"Whatever. It's your fault we're in here to begin with." He shot back at her.

"We are so done talking now."

Craig snorted. "Whatever you say."

…0...

_48 Hours Earlier …_

"Wasting away again in Margaritaville …"

"Craig, will you just Shut. Up." Ellie snapped. She stared out the window, the passing of the sporadic cactus-or cacti? Who knew?-along the roadside a pleasant distraction. Yesterday she had been living her nice little normal, relatively normal, life in Toronto consoling Marco about Dylan's recent departure to the chocolate capital of the world, and now she was somewhere in southern Utah having rescued Craig from his rehab center with the help of Spinner and Jay, who for some reason couldn't be persuaded to stay behind.

Jay and Spinner themselves were sound asleep in the backseat of the Civic, Jay snoring away for the sixth consecutive hour.

"How rude would it be if we just pushed him out somewhere?" she asked.

Craig's eyes slid over to her from behind the steering wheel and he smirked behind his hand. If she saw, she would most likely go off on a tirade about his not taking her seriously and mocking her, throwing in a lot of big words she assumed he didn't know for good measure. "Considering it's his car," he told her, "I'd have to go with pretty rude."

"Pft." Jay landed another soft kick against the back of her seat causing her to grit her teeth in order to stop from turning around and killing him.

A pot hole in the road caused the driver's side of the car to dip and Spinner woke, his head having banged against the window. "Ow," he muttered a pout reminiscent of a grumpy three year old on his face. "Couldn't have dodged it, eh?"

"Sorry man. Those are the hazards when you road trip it with Craig Manning," he said in leu of an apology.

"Tell me again why we're doing this? And why he," Spinner jerked his thumb toward Jay, "needs to be here."

"It's his car," Craig replied without missing a beat.

"I have a car." Spinner's pout became more pronounced, and he reached over the consol to change the radio station.

Craig smacked his hand away idly without ever taking his eyes off the road. "There will be no Britney Spears in the car."

"Do I look like Marco?" he asked. Trying once more to latch onto the radio knob, this time his hand was slapped away by Ellie.

"No offensive and/or sexist rap either," she told him.

He sunk back into his seat. "You guys are no fun. If we were in my car, I could change the station all I wanted."

Craig nodded, "True. But being that your car is a particularly nauseating shade of green, and I'm trying to stay **off** drugs, I don't think it would have been the best idea."

"You never answered my question," he protested.

Ellie turned in her seat, thoroughly disgruntled that her sulking had been interrupted, and glared at Spinner. "You're here because you happened to be there when I asked Jay if I could borrow his car."

"Happened? You guys were at the Dot. I'm always there," he argued. Ellie stuck her tongue out at him in response.

"Kids," Craig interjected, "don't make me turn this car around."

"Okay Mom," Spinner muttered at the same time Ellie said "Please do."

"Do I detect a hint of sarcasm in your tone, Miss Nash?" he asked with a wicked grin.

Spinner eyed Craig as though he'd never seen him before. "Dude, you have met her, right?" 

Rolling her eyes, Ellie expanded on her answer to Spinner's question. "You also refused to let me drive all the way to Calgary with Jay by myself."

"Duh," Spinner told her. "You honestly think I'd let any girl confine herself to a car with Jay for days on end? Who knows what he'd do."

"Days on end? Please. It's been three days as Mr. Leadfoot over here refuses to pull over." Ellie resumed her staring out the window, her chin propped up on her hand.

"That would Ellie's way of saying 'Thank you, Spinner, for volunteering to drive all the way across the country with me,'" Craig said.

Spinner laughed discreetly when Ellie glared at Craig like he was a bug she wanted to squish beneath her shoe. He had a feeling that most of Ellie's problem with this trip had to do with the fact that Craig had gone AWOL from his program five weeks early. But when he'd called her and begged her to come pick him up from a pay phone somewhere on the U.S. border she had left right then. But being that she didn't have a car, she had to plead with Jay, who happened to be on the stool beside her, to let her use his car. He had agreed on the condition that he go with her. And having overheard the conversation, Spinner had refused to let them leave without him. He liked Ellie, despite her constant sarcasm, and didn't want Jay to try anything.

"Would you ladies pipe down so I can get some sleep," Jay suddenly demanded from the backseat.

"Dude, you've been sleeping for hours," Spinner snapped.

Craig shook his head, both at their bickering and Ellie's sulkiness as she slumped further down in the passenger seat. He just didn't get why she was acting like this. Sure, she had missed at least a week of class already; with probably a week more to go-but was that any reason to act like a spoiled child? They were on their way to Las Vegas-what was her problem?

…0...

"Uh, Manning," Jay slid his sunglasses down on his nose, "this doesn't look like Vegas to me."

"No, it looks like a tacky tourist trap that **wishes** it were Vegas," Ellie added.

Near four straight days of driving had taken it's toll on Craig, and when he saw the signs for the Duckwater Hotel and Casino on the highway he had pulled onto the off ramp before the others had even noticed. He needed some sleep in a warm, soft bed, some real food, and a hot shower. As did his travel companions but he kept that to himself.

He moved to stand in front of them, spreading his arms wide and spun around to face the building. "Oh come on guys, it has … character."

"Cartoon character," Ellie muttered. Spinner chuckled under his breath.

Standing four stories high, the casino boasted a Native American theme, complete with totem polls on either side of the welcome sign and a ten foot high wooden headdress on the top of the roof. But the jewel of the architectural crown had to be the door shaped and painted like the stern face of an Indian Chief.

"What do you want to bet," Spinner whispered to Ellie, "that there's a tomahawk at the check in."

"Five bucks?"

He shook his head. "A round in the bar."

"Spin, you do realize you have to be 21 to drink in the states right?" Craig asked. He heaved his duffel bag up onto his shoulder and began walking towards the hotel.

"What?!" He looked at Ellie and Jay who both nodded in confirmation. "Ah man."

Removing his wallet from the inner pocket of his leather jacket, Jay dangled it open under Spinner's nose. "That's why you need one of these." A fake ID glinted in the late afternoon sun.

"Jay, I think I speak for all of us when I say that we'd appreciate it if you wouldn't get arrested," Craig told him, opening the door and holding it for Ellie to walk through. "I know I for one would feel awful about leaving you here and taking your car all the way to Vegas without you."

Jay shot him a sour look, nearly running into the door when Spinner let it go as he walked through. "Well," he muttered, "that would be bad."

…0...

_**A/N: The town of Duckwater, Nevada is a real place, however all the places and sights in the town are purely fictional created merely for my own personal use. ;)**_


	2. Chapter 2

_**FYI, Writer's block is still kicking my butt. Be kind. **_

…0...

"This is, without a doubt, the most humiliating thing to ever happen to me." Paige paced angrily back and forth in the cell. Her hair swung wildly around, and she paused, picking a piece of what looked to be carrot out of a long strand. "Ew."

Spinner stared at her, trying to hide his amusement. True, spending the night in a very crowded Las Vegas jail with his very irritated ex girlfriend was not something he was looking forward to, but the fact that she was so worked up while picking food from her hair and clothes was somewhat amusing.

"It's your fault we're in here to begin with," he reminded her. "The least you could do is apologize for getting me arrested."

"My fault?!" Paige whirled, fixing a glare on him, her hands flying to her hips. "Excuse me, this is not my fault. I'm not the one who started throwing the food!" She stamped her foot angrily, like a little girl in the midst of a tantrum.

"Paige, you smacked her," Spinner stated flatly.

She sat on the bench on the opposite side of the cell and crossed her arms over her chest in a huff. Even after three hours she still couldn't wrap her head around the act that she was in jail. Jail! For something that wasn't even her fault. Well, maybe it was her fault-but she was totally justified in doing it.

She sniffed dismissively. "Well it's pretty obvious whose side you're on."

"And it's pretty obvious that you're jealous." He leaned back on the bunk, propping his hands on crossed arms and closed his eyes. But in his mind's eye he could still see Paige's expression. He knew her well enough to know that her entire face was beet red by then-eyes narrowed into tiny slits and jaw tightly clenched. Classic Paige.

"Why would I be jealous of Ellie?" she demanded. "Spinner?" she prodded when he didn't answer. "Spinner!"

…0...

_Bring-bring-bring-bring-bring._

"Jay!" Ellie hissed. "Stop ringing that bell."

Rolling his eyes, Jay continued dinging the small bell on the hotel's front desk. "The sooner we get checked in, the sooner we can get to the tables." He rubbed his hands together excitedly.

"Not all of us came equipped with fake ID's, Jay," Ellie reminded him. "We're planning to get some sleep."

"Wusses," he muttered under his breath and went back to tapping the bell.

Spinner pulled his hand away from the desktop. "Dude, stop it."

Craig hitched his duffel bag higher on his shoulder and wondered if he took a step backwards he could pretend he wasn't actually with these people. "Guys," he said, "you're gonna get us thrown out of here."

"Since when are you the voice of reason?" Ellie demanded. All three guys took a step back. Ellie on a regular day was dangerous enough, but Ellie cranky from six hours of sleep in a week was close to homicidal. Added to the glare she was giving Craig, who she was blaming everything on, none of the guys were anxious to tick her off.

"I'm not," he said quickly. "I'm just tired and want to sleep in an actual bed." He pressed closer to the counter, leaning over and peering down a small hallway towards the back of the building. "But Jay," he added, "we will leave you here if you're too busy gambling to get in the car when we leave."

Jay made a face at him. "All these comments about leaving me here, Manning- what's up with that?" His gaze ticked between the three of them, noting that they had all gone very silent all of a sudden. "Hrmph." He made to hit the bell one more time, but went his hand fell it connected with the wood of the desk instead of metal and he looked up in surprise. A very stern looking Native American man was behind the counter, standing so still he looked like part of the décor, and so disapproving that Jay took an instinctive step backwards.

"How did he-" Spinner muttered and craned his neck toward the small hallway as if trying to decipher the secret to the man's silent entrance. Ellie shook her head at him, sending a silent signal to be quiet.

"Name?" he said gruffly.

Ellie nudged Craig, propelling him forward. He walked slowly, pulling his wallet out of his back pocket and extracting a credit card. "Manning," he replied quickly. "Um, we don't have a reservation, but-"

"Card."

Craig hastily dropped his credit card into the man's outstretched palm. He was almost afraid that if he took too long the guy might put an ancient curse on him or something. "Uh … two rooms. Please."

"Two?" Jay piped up from behind him.

"Yeah," Craig replied. "One for Ellie and one for us."

"Why does she get her own room?" he asked.

The other three of them rolled their eyes, each casting discreet nervous looks at the man at the check in. But he remained perfectly composed, eyes trained on the computer in front of him.

"Because I'm a girl, Jay," Ellie said slowly, putting heavy emphasis on the words.

With a smirk, Jay looked her up and down lecherously. "Oh, I know."

With a roll of her eyes, she turned away from him, crossing her arms over her chest. "Jay, the level of crass you have continues to amaze me."

"Thanks, Toots," he said with a wink.

Shaking his head, Craig turned back to the counter. "Fine. Three rooms. Two singles, and a double, please."

The man shook his head. "We have one room. A double."

"What?!" Ellie demanded. "How is that possible?"

Possessing all the solemnity of someone pointing out an execution site, he raised a hand slowly, his index finger extended toward a large framed sign near the main entrance to the hotel casino.

"Welcome Plumbers Association # 566," Spinner read off. "Perfect. Should we try another hotel?"

Craig shook his head, his hands waving around to dismiss the idea. "I'm sorry, guys, but I'm about to fall over here. I have to get some sleep." Pushing his lower lip out in a pout, he stared pitifully at Ellie. As tired as he was, it was really up to her whether they stayed or not. She was the one who was going to have to share a room with three guys if she opted to stay.

And Ellie knew exactly what Craig was asking, and why he was directing it at her. His tendency to try and be a gentleman at times killed her. It took away her right to call him a jerk and she hated that. It was much, much safer.

"Whatever," she muttered, averting her eyes from the brown ones fixed on her.

Jay clapped his hands together loudly then proceeded to rub them together. "Well, now that that's settled, key?"

The man gave Jay a hard look and slid two key cards across the counter towards Craig. He scooped them up, thanking the man, and handed one to Ellie.

"Hey!" Jay protested.

"Jay, I don't want to have to worry about you betting the key in a poker game or something. It's safer with Ellie," Craig explained.

Jay raised his hand to his mouth and stage coughed 'whipped' under his breath. Spinner laughed, but off Ellie's glare he turned it into a cough very similar to Jay's.

"Let's just get upstairs."

…0...

The room was bigger than the outside of the hotel would suggest. The two beds were both kings and spaced on opposite sides of the room. A large overstuffed couch lay up against the far wall next to the bathroom-all done in a very festive southwestern theme.

No sooner than the door closed Jay fell onto the bed nearest the door, spreading his arms and legs wide and sighing in contentment.

"Jay," Ellie complained. "You can't just take the bed."

"Chivalry's dead, Sugar," he told her. "Try Bert and Ernie over there if you want the other one."

"Jay, come one, man," Spinner tried. "If you're going down to the casino you should let one of us have the bed."

"And then the couch will be gone and what-I get the floor?" He snorted. "I think not."

Spinner sighed, turning to Ellie with his hands up in defeat.

She nodded. "Fine. So what now?"

Craig had been standing back by the door, almost falling asleep where he stood. But he came forward then, dropping his bag to the floor. "I'll take the couch and one of you guys take the bed." He fell over, flopping onto the puffy couch on his back. "Ahh."

"You take the bed," Spinner told Ellie. "I can sleep on the floor."

"Spin, you look ready to fall over." And he did. There were huge circles under is eyes and his shoulders were sagging with exhaustion. She expected she looked about the same, but he was the one who had volunteered to come on this trip just for the sole purpose of helping her. "You take it."

"No. Ellie, come on …" he began.

"Spin, really …"

"Would you too pipe down and just flip a coin already," Jay muttered. "If you'd be quiet I can take a quick nap before I head down to the slots."

They both rolled their eyes at him and Craig pretended he couldn't hear any of it. They would have thought he was asleep already if he hadn't been shaking his foot in impatience.

Ellie look scrutinized the bed intently. It was huge. And the idea of making anyone but Jay sleep on the floor was just mean. "Look, this bed is pretty big and we're friends, right?" Off his nod she went on. "And we're both adults so why don't we just share. It's only for one night."

Craig sat up on the couch. "Share?"

"You got a problem with that, Manning?" Jay taunted from his bed. Even with half of his face buried in his pillow they could still see the huge smirk he was sporting. Figures he would get a kick out of the situation that he'd cause.

"No." Craig's voice was steady but not very strong and it was more than obvious that he was lying through his teeth. "But um, don't you think Jesse would have a problem with it?"

Jesse. It was amazing, but this was the first time Ellie had thought about him since she'd answered her phone back in Toronto. And being that her battery had died somewhere around Winnipeg, she was sure he wasn't too happy with her at the moment. Near five days of unanswered phone calls after just disappearing was one thing-but when he found out she had gone to get Craig, with Spinner and Jay-neither of which he could stand, it was likely that he would never speak to her again.

"Right now," she said, "I really don't think so. And I just want to get some sleep."

"Hey, if you don't mind, I don't mind," Spinner stated and kicked his shoes off. "And I promise to keep my hands to myself." He grinned mischievously up at Ellie from the bed and she whacked him with a pillow before laying don on the other side of the bed.

"You alright, Manning?" Jay asked, his voice dripping with mock sincerity. "You look like you just swallowed a frog."

Shooting Jay a dark look, he nodded. "I'm just peachy."

…0...


	3. Chapter 3

_**A/N: Warning: MEGA filler chapter ahead. :P**_

…0...

Ellie tossed on the bed, hands plastered to her ears to block out Craig's snoring. As soon as he'd stopped fidgeting on the couch he had fallen asleep and began snoring and sounded like a chainsaw. She buried her head under her pillow in hopes of drowning out the noise but to no avail. She could still hear him.

Jay had left after only a fifteen minute nap, looking inhumanly bouncy and chipper to be going down to the casino. Lying there, listening to Craig saw lumber, made her almost wish she'd gone with him. She sighed in exasperation and finally eased off the bed, trying not to wake Spinner who appeared to be sound asleep beside her, heading for the shower.

On her way to the bathroom, she spied Craig's bag on the floor. He was the only with a bag, so she knew it belonged to him. With a quick glance to make sure he was truly asleep, she dug around for a few minutes before extracting one of his tee shirts. She sniffed it just to make sure it was truly clean, and made her way to the shower. Four days on the road had her feeling grimy and if she couldn't sleep, she may as well get clean.

Spinner was sitting up on the bed when she came out, flipping through a Nevada guidebook that had been on the night table when they checked in. He eyed her as she emerged, toweling her damp hair, and wearing a shirt that swallowed her tiny frame. Grinning at her, he nodded his head toward Craig on the couch, and then to the door. With a nod, she followed him out onto the balcony.

"I didn't wake you up, did I?" she asked once he shut the door behind them.

"Nah. It's hard to sleep with Craig in the room," he assured her. "I was just trying to be quiet in case you actually managed to get any sleep."

"Are you kidding?" She leaned against the railing and the hem of her shirt got stuck and she grimaced. It hung down past her thighs, being that Craig was nearly a full foot taller then her in her bare feet, so she pulled the bottom up, tying it at her hip, and rolled the sleeves up so they no longer dangled around her elbows.

Ellie noticed Spinner looking at her makeshift outfit, a smirk playing on his lips. "What?"

"Nothing. You just look cute is all," he told her.

Her eyes narrowed at him, and she wagged a finger in his direction. "I know what you're doing, and you're not getting the bed to yourself. I refuse to share with Jay."

Spinner shrugged his shoulders. "Can't blame a guy for trying. You don't think Craig will mind you stealing his shirt?"

"I don't really care," she told him, wringing a few more drops of water out of her hair. "He dragged us out here, the least he can do is loan out some clean clothes."

"We could always go buy some," Spinner suggested. "There's gotta be a store around here somewhere. And I think we could all use a toothbrush too."

Nodding her agreement, she tiptoed back in the room to put down the towel and to grab a hair clip and the car keys. She tossed the keys to Spinner over the top of the car. She didn't really want to go into a store with her hair hanging like a stringy mop down her back, so she wrangled it up and secured it at the back of her head while he pulled out of the hotel parking lot.

"Where to?" he asked.

Ellie shrugged. "First store you see without a toothless old guy out front should be fine."

Chuckling, Spinner turned on the radio. A soft ballad she didn't recognize came on. But it was soothing and the rumble of the car felt like being rocked to sleep and she felt herself nodding off. The abrupt halting of movement made her jerk in her seat. She cracked one eye open and glared at Spinner. "I was this close to being asleep."

"You want to keep wearing Craig's clothes?" he asked, opening his car door. Ellie stuck her tongue out in response. She opened her own door to see where Spinner had brought them. "Wal-Mart?"

"Clothes and other assorted necessities under one roof," he told her. "What more do you need?"

Out of the corner of her eye she noticed a harried looking mom in a pink tracksuit trying to round up three small kids with Sno-Cones that were melting under the hot desert sun, dripping down their arms and legs. "How about a zookeeper?"

"Come on." Spinner began walking toward the front door, side stepping a purple slushy puddle as he passed the kids.

A huge gust of cold air assaulted them as the mechanical glass doors slid open, causing Ellie to shiver when it came into contact with the damp material of her shirt where her hair had dripped. Spinner grabbed a shopping cart from the door greeter, an elderly lady with overly red lipstick that winked at him when she handed him the cart. "New girlfriend, Spin?"

"Ha, ha," he said dryly. "Where to first?"

Ellie peered around the store, through the huge crowd, to where the clothes seemed to be. "How about I go get my stuff, you get yours and Jay's, and we'll meet at the shampoo and stuff?"

"Jay?" he asked in disbelief. "You want me to buy Jay clothes?"

"Yeah. You know better what to get him than I do," she explained.

Spinner grimaced. "Do I have to?"

Rolling her eyes, Ellie brushed a stray wet strand behind her ear. "Fine. We'll each get our own stuff, and then we'll get Jay's together. Okay?"

"Fine," he muttered and trudged off towards the men's section.

Women's Apparel was directly across the aisle, and Ellie scooped up three pairs of jeans and several tops in record time and even picked up a bathing suit on impulse. She spied Spinner several feet away, picking through a rack of tee shirts, and she headed off to the lingerie department. She definitely didn't want him following her over there.

She put those purchases on the bottom of the cart, covering them with the clothes and pajamas she'd chosen, and headed off to look for her shopping companion only to find him looking helplessly at the racks in the Men's Department.

"Need a hand?" she asked.

"Yeah," he picked up a pile of clothes off a nearby mannequin and tossed them on top of her items in the cart. "I decided to go ahead and Jay's stuff, but I have no idea what to get."

She picked up a pair of the jeans he'd gotten for himself to check the size. Jay was a bit heavier than Spin, and at least two inches taller, so she grabbed a few pairs based on that. She then grabbed a few shirts, mostly solid colors, that looked like others she'd seen him wear and added them to the ever growing pile.

"How do girls do that?" Spinner mused. He picked up a trucker hat boasting the slogan 'Mickey's All Night Go-Go Bar' on the front while she examined what she'd bought.

"It's a skill," she informed him. "Like running in heels."

He nodded. "So…shampoo?"

"Aren't you forgetting something?" Ellie quirked an eyebrow at him, glancing down at the pile of clothes.

"Like what?"

Even though she was really enjoying his amused expression, she decided to clarify it for him and avoid him realizing it later. "Like socks, pajamas,…underwear perhaps?"

"Oh." A touch of embarrassment colored his cheeks a pale pink and she laughed. "Can you get Jay, or shall I go with you?"

Spinner's eyes widened at the thought of Ellie, who was a friend, but hardly a close one, helping him shop for boxers. He wanted to experience a lot of things in his life, but that wasn't one of them. "Uh…I think I can mange. Thanks."

She grinned at him. "If you say so. I'll go get the shampoo and stuff. Any requests?"

"Nope," he shook his head frantically. "I'll be quick," he added and dashed off towards the large sign for Men's Loungewear.

Chuckling at Spinner's typical bumbling, Ellie careened the cart toward the toiletries. Grabbing bottles of the shampoo and conditioner she usually used, she tossed them into the cart, adding lotion, shaving cream and a bag of disposable razors-one for her and one for the guys. She grabbed deoderant, toothpaste, and a three pack of toothbrushes, she went off in search of Spinner.

He was still in the loungewear, clutching a pile of pajama bottoms and packs of socks and boxers, and peering intently down the aisle. She peered around him and saw a girl browsing in the baby clothes, totally oblivious to the fact that she was being checked out.

"Now's not the best time to be scoping chicks, Spin," she said and laughed as he jumped in surprise at the sound of her voice.

"Shh!" he hissed. "I know her. I just can't remember her name."

Ellie looked at the girl in question. She did look sort of familiar. Small, but curvy. Long, chocolate colored ringlets and huge doe eyes. She was very pretty and it was easy to see why Spinner would take the time to try and remember how he knew her. "How do you know her?"

"She goes to Degrassi," he said. "But I have no idea what she'd be doing all the way out here."

He continued to gaze at the girl, and eventually she looked up, feeling eyes on her. "Hi," she said. "Don't I know you?"

Spinner snapped hi fingers. "Mia, right?"

She nodded. "Yeah. And you're … Spinner?"

"Yup." They smiled at each other and Ellie fought the urge to laugh at the flirtatious glint that had come into Mia's eyes. "What are you doing out here?"

"Family reunion," she explained. "We're just stopping here to pick up a few things we forgot. Traveling with a baby. It's never boring."

Comprehension came over Spinner's face, and he shuffled his feet, taking a step back towards Ellie. "Yeah. You have a little girl?"

Mia bobbed her head. Her eyes had darkened a bit, her smile shrinking when it became obvious that Spinner's flirting had subsided. But she didn't look that surprised. Ellie supposed that having a child tended to have that reaction on guys. "And I should get back to her. My mom has her in the toy aisle. It must be tantrum time by now. I'll see you back at school."

Ellie watched as she scampered off towards the back of the store. She turned to Spinner and whacked him on the arm as hard as she could.

"Ow!" he cried. "What was that for?"

"Are you serious?" she demanded. "You were all flirty and then dropped it the minute you remembered she has a kid. Real nice, Spin."

Dumping his stuff in the cart, which now looked ready to topple over, he leaned closer to whisper to her. "That's not the reason." Off her dubious expression, he continued. "When I remembered about her kid, I also remembered that she was dating JT when he…you know. I'm not interested in being a rebound and I really don't want to deal with the guilt baggage."

"Oh." Ellie immediately felt about two inches tall. True, Spin was a guy and guys weren't always the most tactful creatures on the planet, but he was also a good guy for all his goofy tendencies. "Sorry."

He waved his hand as if to say 'don't worry about it' and angled his head towards the rows of cash registers at the front of the building. "Ready to go?"

"Absolutely." He took very pushing the by then very heavy cart, but halfway there his cell started ringing. He dug it out, flipping it open at the same time he handed her his wallet. "I'll get Jay's stuff, too. Be right there."

But he wasn't right there. Se was all checked out and waiting for him with the loaded down cart and a scowl when he finally ambled over to her twenty-seven minutes later. "Finally."

"No need to get snappy," he said. He didn't look to be in too great a mood either.

"Bad news?" she asked with a look down at his phone.

He steered the cart out towards Jay car. With a sigh, he popped the trunk open and began loading the overstuffed bags into it. "It was Paige. Apparently, she heard from Marco that we're out here and she demanded to know how we could take a road trip to Vegas without her. So after listening to her yap for a couple minutes, she informed me that she's flying out tomorrow and will meet us there."

Ellie dropped the bad she was holding. "Paige is going to meet us in Vegas? Why? More importantly-why?"

"Because she's Paige and she can't stand anybody doing something cool without her," he stated, a touch of bitterness to his words. Ellie had thought Spin was over the whole Paige/Jesse/Alex/friends with benefits fiasco, but it looked as if he were anything but.

"What do you say we get some pizza on the way back?" She smiled brightly at him.

He slammed the lid shut. "Works for me."

…0...

Jay walked into the room, letting the door bang back together behind him, whistling and counting the money he'd won.

Groaning, Craig rolled over and glared at him, raising his hand to block the glare of sunlight Jay had let in before the door closed together. "Jay, man, people are trying to sleep in here."

Jay clucked his tongue and flopped back on his bed. "Just you, Sleeping Beauty. Spin and Red seem to be AWOL."

Craig's eyes shot to the bed. Sure enough, it was empty and barely rumpled. It appeared as if they'd taken off right after he'd fallen asleep. "Where are they?"

Shrugging, Jay kicked off his shoes and laid down, sticking his money in his back pocket. "No clue. I did notice my car's gone there. Maybe they went back to TO."

"You don't sound too worried about that." Craig sat up, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. He dug into his duffel bag at the end of the couch. A shower would probably go a long way in waking him and making him feel alive. He searched for his U2 tee shirt, but couldn't find it. He had a panicked thought that he'd left it at rehab. Angie had given it to him on his first visitor's day, and if he'd lost it…

The door opened again, his shirt walking through, tied up around Ellie. She was balancing two pizza boxes and two hands full of plastic shopping bags with smiley faces on them. Spinner staggered in behind her, loaded down with even more bags. "Little help here," he called.

Craig jumped up, taking a few of the bags out of Spinner's arms and Jay, being Jay, grabbed the pizzas from Ellie and sat back down on the bed.

"Thanks, Jay," Ellie said sarcastically.

"No prob, Babe," he replied with a wink.

Craig began riffling through the bags, pulling out a black cotton bra by accident. Ellie scooped it up in a hurry, her face redder than her hair. Jay chuckled around his mouthful of pizza. "You guys been out buying undies?" He waggled his eyebrows at her.

Ellie dug into the bag she'd stuffed the bra into and extracted a pack of boxers. She threw them at him, hitting him in the head and knocking his hat off.

Spinner picked his own piece of pizza, settling down on his and Ellie's bed, and smirked at him. Jay glanced down at the pack in his hand, his eyebrows raising. "You guys really have been out buying undies."

"Among other things," she retorted and tossed the clothes they'd bought him into his lap. "And we have receipts so don't think you're getting out of paying us back."

"Wouldn't dream of it. Thanks." The last word was muffled, a little awkward, and he jumped up with the announcement that he was going to go get some sodas.

"You guys went shopping?" Craig asked in disbelief. "I thought you were tired."

Ellie shrugged and picked a pepperoni off her pizza to pop into her mouth. "Somebody was snoring too loud for us to sleep."

"Sorry," he said sheepishly. He let his mind wander as he sat there taking in how cute she looked swimming in his shirt with her face freshly scrubbed and her hair curling around her face in damp tendrils. This wasn't turning out how he had hoped. When he'd called Ellie, he had been anticipating a few days alone with her to sort out their … whatever it was they had. But when he'd spotted Jay's Civic, with Jay and Spinner inside, his heart had sunk. That was when he'd come up with the Vegas idea to give them more time. They had been so close once. It was like they had been able to communicate without talking and now … things were just off. She had barely spoken to him since they'd picked him up, and when she did it was usually snaky and irritated.

Seeing her there, on her hotel bed, laughing at some lame joke with Spinner, he was struck with the terrifying thought that it may be too late to fix it.

…0...

_**A/N: Told you. But stayed tuned. Next chapter, things start heating up. ;)**_


	4. Chapter 4

…0...

"I am so bored."

Spinner looked over at Jay sprawled out on his bed, hat over his face, and hands threaded together behind his head. When he had come out of the shower and flopped at once onto his bed, they had all hoped he was going to go to sleep.

Apparently not.

"There's always the casino again," Craig told him.

Jay yawned, stretching widely on top of the comforters, and scratched his stomach. "Yeah, not a good idea."

"Why not?" they all asked simultaneously. Jay declaring something a bad idea was usually more bad than any one else doing it.

"Some big guy in a cowboy hat. Accused me of cheating," he informed them. "He's probably still looking for me."

"That's just great, Jay," Ellie snapped. "Some big oaf is looking to pound you into the ground so you're going to have to hide in here, bored, and bug all of us."

Jay pulled his hat off his face and glared at Ellie. "A little sympathy for my situation would be nice here, Red. Just think how guilty you'd feel if some gorilla mangled my pretty face." He smirked at her and she grimaced, throwing an empty soda can at him which he easily swatted away.

"You guys," Craig snapped from the couch, "please stop." Ellie and Jay had been bickering for four days now and he couldn't take it anymore.

Jay grunted in his direction and Ellie's eyes narrowed dangerously. A dark flush, rooted in anger and irritation, rose in her cheeks. It wasn't just Jay that was getting on her nerves; Craig had also been the source of much aggravation during the trip, as was the impending meeting with Paige the next day-which neither Craig nor Jay knew about yet. She seriously needed to blow off some steam and right then she was ready to vent some of that steam on Craig.

Seeing the blow up ready on her lips, Spinner jumped up, waving his hands in the air. "Whoa, guys. Everybody needs to just calm down."

"And what exactly do you suggest for that?" Craig snapped. His own patience as far as Spinner was starting to run a little thin. He was the only one that Ellie wasn't snapping at on a regular basis-and that just wasn't fair.

"I think we need to get out of this room and away from each other," Spinner said. "We're going to be back in that car tomorrow, and if we keep up like this we'll kill each other."

"Sounds good to me," Ellie declared. She stood, grabbed her bag, and left the room, the door slamming shut behind her.

A low whistle emanated from Jay. He pushed himself up on his hands and looked at the door Ellie had just walked through. "I think Red was about to blow."

"I'll say," Craig muttered a dark look on his face.

"Think she has PMS?" Jay mused, glancing from Craig to Spinner.

The response was a pillow thrown at his head from each of the other guys. He muttered curses under his breath.

"Think we should go after her?" Craig directed his question to Spinner. Despite his annoyance at Ellie's lack of irritation with Spinner, he knew that Jay would be no help-not when he was still muttering about hormones and mood swings in a near inaudible tone.

Shaking his head, Spinner told him no. "She just needs some space probably. We'll go find her after she's calmed down a little bit."

A feeling of resentment rose up in Craig's chest, settling in his stomach in a heavy ball. A year ago, it would have been him saying the sort of things Spinner was saying because it was him who knew Ellie the best. Now, distance, lies, and rehab had strained their relationship and Spin was the one who saw her all the time. He hung out with her and Marco and had come to know when she was about to loose it and recognized that she needed alone time to decompress. It hurt.

"I guess," he said. "I'm gonna go take a walk. Clear my head a little." He slapped Spinner on the back on headed out; hoping that, maybe, by the time he got back to the room Ellie would be like he remembered.

…0...

"You're gonna go look for her, aren't you?" Jay asked Spinner as soon as the door shut behind Craig.

Swallowing, Spinner bobbed his head. "Well yeah," he admitted. "I'm not going to let her wander around a strange place alone, at night, when there are drunk plumbers all over the place."

Jay nodded appreciatively. He smirked as he stood up from the bed. "I got to hand it to you, Spin. You really had Manning convinced there. Nice."

"Dude, what are you talking about?" Spinner rubbed his forehead, not quite sure he wanted to know what Jay was getting at.

"I'm not trying to judge you, man," Jay told him. He picked his hat off the bed and pulled it over his dark hair. "Lord knows I'm no saint." He grinned at Spinner, his smile broadening off Spinner's scowl at the dig to his religious side. "But if you want to make a move on Red, you might want to wait until we're back in TO or else Manning might try and mangle your face."

"What?!" His eyebrows knitting together in confusion, irritation running high within him, Spinner shook his head and made to leave the room. "It's so not even like that. I don't like Ellie that way. I just know what Craig put her through last time he was here and if I can keep her from getting hurt again, I'm going to do it."

Jay walked by him through the open door, letting his hand fall to the other guy's shoulder as he passed. "Whatever you say, Spinster." He jogged down the steps at the edge of the outer balcony that wrapped around the second floor exterior of the hotel. Halfway down he stopped, turned back and called up, "Just tie a sock around the door or something if you guys decide to get busy."

It was a good thing he took off when he did; otherwise Spinner was seriously considering socking him.

…0...

The light filtering through the hotel room window was bright, obnoxiously so, and Ellie groaned at the assault on her senses.

"Pipe down," a voice muttered from somewhere that sounded far off. Jay, she realized. He was in the other bed.

That was when Ellie realized that she didn't remember coming back to the room last night at all. She could hear the distinctive sound of Craig sawing lumber from the couch, and feel the weight of Spinner on the bed beside her. How had she got there and just what had caused it?

Tequila. Lots and lots of tequila that some guy had kept sending her at the bar the night before. Ordinarily, Ellie never drank. After a lifetime with an alcoholic mother, she had vowed to never touch the stuff. But Craig's bailing on rehab and Jay's constant quips had left her nerves raw. Where was the harm in letting loose?

The harm was her head throbbing like someone was using it as a bongo and the feeling that her stomach was turning inside out. Eyes clenched, she grabbed onto the night table between the beds and used it to steady herself so she could grope her way along the wall into the bathroom. The light hurt her eyes when she flipped the switch, once more wondering why hangovers had to be so brutal on the senses. Her eyes hurt, the smell of the products in the bathroom was making her sick, she could hear every little noise from outside filtering in around Craig's snoring, and there was a nasty, sandpapery like taste in her mouth. She grappled for her toothbrush to get rid of it and then splashed some cold water on her face.

Glinting caught her eye and she put her hand out in front of her face. There was a thin, obviously fake, gold band that felt like tin on her middle finger. Her brow scrunched in confusion. That wasn't hers, she had no idea where it came from, and it was really tight. No doubt it was meant for her ring finger, or index finger perhaps, but she had put it on the wrong one. What was going on? The last thing she remembered was spotting Jay outside the window of the hotel bar, looking around wildly, trying to dodge the plumber that was after him. After that…nothing.

Never a good sign, she mused. Not a good sign at all.


	5. Chapter 5

…0...

After a hot shower, and another go with her toothbrush, Ellie felt somewhat closer to human. She had taken all of her jewelry off and noted that there was a green line encircling her middle finger where the gold ring had been, and no amount of scrubbing could get rid of it. She sighed.

Craig was the only one of the guys that was awake when she stumbled, bleary eyed, out of the bathroom. He was sitting on the couch, riffling through his duffel bag and hadn't noticed her yet. Something Ellie had thought was long gone grabbed hold of her heart and squeezed tightly. She assumed he must have felt her eyes on him-he looked up at her and gave her a lopsided grin full of sympathy. "How're you feeling?"

"Like death," she responded.

Craig chuckled. He leaned over to the small refrigerator they had stocked the night before and grabbed a bottle of water for her. "Hydrating helps."

Ellie nodded. She knew it, of course, but the gesture was still appreciated. He was trying so hard to get on her good side; something she had to admit that she was making very hard on him. But there was a good reason for it, that's what she kept telling herself. Self preservation was a hard habit to break, and it kicked in automatically when she was around Craig. There was nothing she could do about it.

"Thanks. Um," she shifted her weight from foot to foot, "how exactly did I get back here last night? I don't really remember."

Shrugging, Craig stood with his clothes and shower stuff in his arms. "No idea. I waited up for you guys until 3, then I fell asleep. I woke up about 7 and you were all passed out on your beds."

"Perfect."

A groan emanated from Jay and he growled out, "Would you two knock it off with the girl talk. Some of us are trying to sleep."

"Well get up," Craig said. "We have to get on the road anyway."

"Manning, I am too hung over to deal with you right now." Jay buried his head under the pillow and started snoring.

Ellie stared at his form under the mess he's turned the blankets into. Getting him up and ready to leave was not going to be fun. That meant one thing.

"You take Jay, I'll get Spinner," she told Craig.

"Gee, thanks, El," Craig muttered. He squared his shoulders and walked over to Jay's bed, took hold of the quilt, and pulled it off him. Jay didn't move and Ellie snickered. "Your turn," Craig said, waving a hand towards Spinner. He had been the one to try and wake Spinner before and it wasn't the easiest task in the world.

"Fine," she huffed. Spinner was asleep on his back, his arms thrown out across the bed now that she wasn't in it. "Spin," she said, shaking at his shoulder. "Wake up." He groaned before his eyes cracked open and he blinked up at her. "It's too early."

Ellie chuckled. "I agree. But we have to get on the road. Unless you guys have changed your minds about going to Vegas?" She grinned down at him, eliciting a scowl in return. Spinner sat up, rubbing at his eyes and yawned loud enough to cause Jay to twitch in his sleep. Craig scowled.

"You guys are buying me breakfast," Spinner muttered, heading towards the bathroom with one of the plastic shopping bags full of clothes.

Ellie beamed over at Craig, who was trying in vain to get Jay, who was now awake but still uncooperative, to get out of bed. "Little help here?" he pleaded after Ellie sat back and watched in amusement for a several minutes.

"Men. So helpless." Ellie stepped next to Jay's bed, and began shaking the mattress. Jay grumbled. She repeated the action, which she had discovered living with Sean, until Jay sat up so abruptly that he caught her off guard and she ended up knocking backwards into Craig and then reach toward the headboard to steady herself. She overcorrected and ended up falling on Jay, sprawled completely on top of him, her hands landing in very questionable locations.

"Why Red," Jay quipped, "I had no idea."

Ellie swatted his arm, and pushed herself into a sitting position. "I was **trying** to get you up."

He quirked his eyebrow, a smirk spreading over his face, and threw his arms out. "Feel free."

"Ugh!" she scoffed at the same time Spinner walked out of the bathroom. Upon seeing a scowling Ellie sitting practically on top of a smiling Jay and Craig laughing his head off he headed back into the bathroom. "I don't want to know."

…0...

After five days on the road, the guys had grown used to Ellie's crankiness. But not even they were prepared for the mood she had developed once Jay had finally relented and gotten out of bed, smacking her butt on his way to the shower for good measure. She had been steaming ever since.

"Exactly how far away are we?" Spinner asked for the third time since they had been on the road.

"About…" Craig looked at the map in his lap, not wanting to chance asking Ellie to look at it. "About 150 more miles."

"How far is that?"

Craig sighed. "300 kilometers. Give or take a few."

"Man," Spinner sighed and flopped back against the seat. "This is taking forever."

"You could have stayed in Toronto," Jay said. He was sitting with his arms crossed and his hat pulled down to block the sun from his eyes, feet propped up on the console between Craig and Ellie. "I think Red and I would have been just fine on our own."

Ellie gritted her teeth in the front seat. Spinner's idea of pushing Jay out on the side of the highway somewhere was sounding better and better. Her retort was cut off when her cell phone began ringing in her pocket. She pulled it out and flipped it open. "Hello?"

"Ellie?"

"Hey, Paige," she greeted, trying to suppress her groan.

"What are doing answering Spinner's phone?" Paige demanded.

"Huh?" Ellie pulled the phone away and looked at it. Sure enough.

She handed it to him over the seat. "Spin, it's Paige. Do you have my phone?"

With a thoroughly confused look on his face, he dug through his pockets until he found a phone and extracted it. "Yup."

Ellie sighed. "That's not mine."

"No, it's mine," Jay said and grabbed it. "So this must be yours." He handed Ellie the one that had been in his jacket pocket.

Paige was still jabbering away, her voice getting louder with each passing second. Craig smirked as Spinner finally put the phone to his ear, only to pull it away as his ex girlfriend yakked away. "What exactly did you guys do last night?"

"Got me," Ellie responded with a shrug. "Jay?"

"Shots," he replied. "Lots of shots. But I don't remember Spin being there."

"At least we all woke up with our clothes on," Ellie said.

Jay grinned, raking his eyes over her face. "Unfortunately."

"Perv," Ellie shot back.

He leaned toward her, a mischievous glint in his eyes. "I wasn't the one doing the groping this morning."

"You are such an ass," she huffed and sunk down in her seat, face blazing.

Jay seemed unaffected by her comments. He merely resumed his earlier position and began whistling, as if teasing Ellie had been exactly what he'd needed to fully wake up. Beside him, Spinner was still talking to Paige, a pained expression on his face. He muttered an "uh huh" every few seconds. It was more than obvious that he was paying more attention to the air in front of his face than whatever she was saying. "Fine," he finally said and hung up. "Dude, now I have a headache. Great."

"Not surprised," Jay said at the same time Ellie asked, "What she have to say?" She scowled at Jay.

"Her flight gets in at 1:30. She was calling from the plane," he replied, ignoring Jay's comments. It was no secret that he wasn't Paige's biggest fan.

"Whoa, who, whoa," Jay sat up, waving his hands wildly in the air. "I must be hearing things. Cause that sounds suspiciously like Her Highness is going to be gracing us with her presence out in Vegas."

Ellie groaned, rubbing at her temples. "Didn't you tell them?"

A sheepish look came over Spinner's face as he shrugged. "I kinda…forgot."

"Manning," Jay said, "is it too late to turn around and go home?"

…0...

Craig had had the foresight to call ahead from Duckwater and book them rooms at the Hard Rock Hotel. He had booked three' one for Ellie, one for him and Spinner and a final one for Jay. Now that Paige was coming out, they had fallen back into their previous fight of who got their own room. Ellie was still feeling bad and refused to share with Paige and Jay just plain refused to share period.

"Excuse me," one of the hotel employees walked over to them, clearing her throat in an exaggerated manor. "Could you keep it down? We're getting noise complaints."

"Figures," Ellie huffed. They were in one of the loudest places on Earth and being asked to stay quiet. "Can't we just get Paige another room? That would solve everything."

"Only if you want to pay," Craig snapped. He'd had enough of all three of them and just wanted to turn back time so he could call Marco or Jimmy instead to come pick him up. "This place ain't cheap, and I refuse to pick up the tab if you want to get her a room."

Ellie's face darkened, eyes narrowing into tiny slits, glaring at Craig. The entire fiasco had been his idea, and now he was getting all snappy with her when she hadn't even wanted to come to Vegas in the first pace.

"Guys, come on," Spinner said. The hotel looked amazing, and he didn't want to get thrown out after twenty minutes just because Ellie and Craig couldn't control their tempers. "We can figure this out. We just all have to agree," he added with a pointed look at Jay, who made a 'What?' gesture in return.

"At this point I'm ready to get a cab to the airport. This entire day has just been miserable. What else can possibly go wrong?"

"Hey! Guys!" A voice called from the other side of the lobby. They turned to see Paige coming towards them pulling two stuffed leather valises on wheels.

"Oh look," Ellie quipped sweetly, "it's my day getting worse."

"Be nice," Craig chastised her, to which she crossed her arms and glared at him. "Make me."

"Hi," Paige practically squealed when she got over to them. "You guys would not believe the flight I had; it was awful. And Alex…she's so ticked at me for coming out here without her." Her voice trailed off when she noticed they were all simply staring at her-and looking very disgruntled. "What's the problem?"

"Nothing," Craig assured her. "Just a minor disagreement on roommates."

Paige's eyes shot to Jay, her lips pursing.

Jay's mouth dropped open. "What? I didn't do anything!"

"Whatever," she said, rolling her eyes. "It's easy. Me and Ellie, and you guys. Where's the problem?"

"The problem," Ellie informed her, "is that I wanted my own room, but since Spinner neglected to tell Craig you were coming, he didn't book an extra room." She said it in such a blunt manner that Paige was silent for a few moments before responding.

"There's no need to be a drama queen, sweetie. We're big girls, we can make do. Right?" She plastered a huge smile on her face; her Queen Bee smile that she thought would make anyone submit to her will.

"Speak for yourself. After a week with these three," she gestured towards the guys standing behind her, "I could use some space. In general. Nothing personal."

"Of course not," Paige replied. "Fine. I'll get my own room. Crisis averted."

Jay clapped his hands together. Four sets of eyes landed on him. "Now that that's all settled, who's up for hitting the slots?"

…0...

Paige's room ended up being on the floor above the rest of them, and she was still grimacing from her altercation with Ellie-or from having to rent her own room-when the four of them left her on the elevator to go to their rooms. Spinner and Craig were in 1206, Ellie in 1207 across the hall and Jay next to her in the adjoining room-something she was less than pleased about.

She collapsed on her bed, sighing at the space of her own room, then thought better of being so relaxed. She jumped up and locked her side of the door leading to Jay's room. There was no reason to let her guard down just because she finally had some breathing room. She didn't want to see him until the next day if possible. Or any of the rest of them either.

'_Bring-bring.'_

Ellie groaned loudly, her hands fisting in her hair. Who would be calling her now? Marco knew where they were-or where they were headed at any rate, and Jesse had stopped calling sometime around dawn on the third day after they left.

"Hello?"

"This Earlene calling from Duke's Chapel of Love out here in Duckwater, and I'm looking for Ellie," an overly chipper, heavily accented voice-Southern, it sounded-said.

"This is she," Ellie replied slowly. Chapel? As in a church? What had she been doing at a church and how did they get her phone number?

"Oh good," Earlene exclaimed. She sounded positively delighted to have reached Ellie. "How are y'all feeling today? You seemed a few sheets to the wind last night if you don't mind my saying."

Y'all? Was that even a real word? Her head began throbbing again. "We're fine, thank you. Was there something you needed?"

Earlene chuckled, the bubbly sound coming through the phone lines. "I know you're probably…busy, but it was only just now when I was filing the papers from last night that I realized you didn't put your full name down. We only have you listed as Ellie. We're going to need your last name before we can file."

"It's Nash," she replied without thinking, then mentally kicked herself. For all she knew she had just given this woman permission to put property in her name, or sign her up for the circus even. Who knew? "Exactly what is it you're filing?"

"Why, your license of course. We did tell you it'd be today since y'all came in after 6, didn't we? Oh dear. Well I'm sorry, sweetie. It's standard. You said Nash?" She continued to babble on, something about chickens and protocol, before Ellie cut her off.

"You said license? What sort of license did I apply for?"

The line went very quiet. For a second, Ellie thought that maybe they had lost their connection and she'd be forced to hunt for the number and she couldn't even remember the name. Duke…something. She was about to hang up when the sound of Earlene clearing her throat wafting through the line. "You don't remember?"

"Do I sound like I remember?" Ellie snapped. "You just said yourself that I was drunk. How could you people let someone apply for…whatever when they're drunk? How do you people stay in business?"

"There's no need to be rude, Miss." Earlene's voice had lost it's sugary texture. She sounded very annoyed with Ellie now, and not at all friendly. "Inebriated or not, you're of age and it's all very legal now that I've faxed it off to the courthouse. Oh look, there's the confirmation that it's gone through."

The notion of banging her head against the wall came into her head, and a deep throbbing took up residence in her temple. She was getting to the point where she was torn between not caring what the license was, and full out homicidal rage. "Ma'am, please," she pleaded. "Would you just tell me exactly what exactly you're talking about?"

"Last night," Earlene began slowly. "When you came in with those two young gentlemen."

Spinner and Jay. At least that part made sense. The phone swap alone was proof enough that they had been together the night before, as did Jay's memory of them doing shots. But a church? Why were they in a church? "And what did we do when we came in?"

"Your wedding honey. It was lovely, and you two make the most adorable couple. I hope he's treating you right this morning despite the hang over he must have." She laughed again but Ellie didn't hear her. She was too busy getting queasy as images of Spinner and Jay and tequila and cheap gold bands flitted through her head. Making a mad dash for the bathroom, the phone laying forgotten on the floor, Earlene still jabbering away.

…0...


	6. Chapter 6

_**A/N: Short little updatelet. A longer chapter is coming-when things are less hectic. **_

_**For Susan and her insistent ahem prodding. :D**_

…0…

Ellie walked back into the bedroom, convinced she had just thrown up everything she had ever eaten in her entire life. Her phone was still lying on the floor where she had dropped it. Earlene's abrasive accent came back to her and she grabbed her head in pain.

A knock at her door made her jerk her head towards the sound, and another wave of nausea hit her. "El?" Craig's voice called.

She jerked the door open and grabbed his wrist to pull him inside. "Hello to you, too," he joked. "What's wrong? Late onset hangover?"

Fishing the ring she'd had on that morning out of her pocket, she held it up to him. "What does this look like to you?"

"Uh…a wedding band?" he tried.

Ellie groaned.

"Was that the wrong answer?" he asked sheepishly.

She sank down onto her bed, her head falling to her hands. Her life had done a complete tailspin and there was absolutely nothing she could do to fix it. The notion of having to go back home and tell everyone she knew; Jesse, Marco, her mother, that she had gotten drunk and married on her way to Vegas…how cliché could she get?

"Could," Ellie's throat clogged. She cleared it before going on. "Could you go get Jay and Spinner?"

"Why?" Craig asked. "Haven't you seen enough of them for the past few days?"

She glared at him. "I don't have time for your hissy fit, Craig. I need to talk to them."

"I'm not-" he began, but she cut him off. "Please."

An annoyed look on his face, Craig walked over and banged on the adjoining door. "Jay. Ellie wants to talk to you." Without even looking back at her, he walked out of the still open door to go get Spinner.

The knob twitched, but the door remained shut. "Yo, Red," Jay yelled through the door, "unlock the door."

Unlocking it, Ellie grabbed his wrists, holding his hands up in front of her to look for any trace of green like there had been on her finger that morning.

Nothing.

"Uh," Jay began, "are you okay?" He actually looked concerned, worry etching its way into his face. "You and Manning haven't been in here smoking something, have you?"

"No!" Her indignation faded as quickly as it flared up. She squared her shoulders and looked him in the eyes. "Jay…what do you remember about last night?"

With a shrug, Jay scratched his head under the band of his ever present cap and smirked at her. "Not a lot. Why? Think we did something…inappropriate?" He waggled his eyebrows suggestively and looked her up and down.

A sound of disgust tumbled out of her mouth. Inappropriate was one word to describe a drunken trip to the alter. But had she been on Jay's arm or Spinner's? "Just tell me if you had a ring when you woke up the morning."

"A ring?"

"Yes," she said. Ellie slowed her speech down, hoping that it would get across the point of how serious the situation was. "A ring. On your finger, or in your pocket maybe? Like this." She held up her own gold band in front of him.

Jay's lips pursed in thought. He took the ring out of her hand and examined it closely. Ironically enough, she wanted him to say he'd been wearing one too just so the whole thing could begin to be fixed. Then it hit her that his having one would mean they were married. Bad idea. Marriage and Jay Hogart did not mix.

He met her eyes again abruptly. "Sorry," he told her in a flippant tone and tossed it up in the air so she could catch it. "Not really my style Red."

"Ugh. You are such an ass."

The trademark Hogart smirk was what she got in response. "So you keep saying. Keep it up and I'll get a complex."

Craig and Spinner walked into the room just then. Immediately, Craig demanded to know what was going on. Ellie all but collapsed onto her bed, head falling into her hands, so he turned to Jay for an answer.

"Red's all worked up about some ring," he told her. "I don't get it. It looks like something you'd get in a box of Cracker Jacks. Nothing to get so worked up about."

"A ring?" Spinner asked dubiously.

A snarky comment was on the tip of Ellie's tongue. Spinner was an okay guy, but he tended to speak without thinking and at the moment, she was not in then mood for that.

Then, however, he dug around in his pocket and extracted a small gold band and held up to her. "You mean like this?"

Groaning, Ellie fell backwards on the bed, hands covering her face. _'This is not happening,'_ she kept repeating over and over in her head. There was no way, out of everything possible on a road trip, could this have actually come to fruition.

"El?" Craig prodded gently. "What's wrong?"

Her hands fell away and she kept her eyes focused on the ceiling. If she had to look at any of the guys right then she had a feeling she'd start crying. "Oh…nothing," she said. "Just that some woman named Earlene called from a Duckwater wedding chapel to tell me that my marriage license went through."

"Y-your…what?" Craig stuttered after thirty seconds of total silence. His eyes shot to Spinner, to the ring he still had in his hand, and he felt sick.

Jay had been leaning against the wall, observing everything unfolding him like usual. But Ellie's news made him walk forward. Spinner was standing stock still, in complete shock, and he shook his shoulder to pull him out of his daze.

"Marriage?" Spinner squeaked. When Ellie didn't respond he sunk down, all but collapsing on the floor in the middle of the hotel room.

They all went silent again, the full weight of the revelation beginning to sink in. Paige walked in the still open door, talking excitedly about the casino and the pool, not noticing that none of her friends were responding.

"Paige!" Craig yelled. "Will you just be quiet? Please."

She scowled at him, hands flying to her hips. Paige never appreciated being told what to do by anyone, and Craig was no different. "What is your problem?" She followed his eyes to Ellie on the bed, looking dangerously close to tears, to a white and stone faced Spinner on the floor, and then Jay who, for once, was neither smirking nor sneering at anyone. "Okay…" she drawled slowly, "what did I miss?"

"A lot, Princess." Jay looped an arm around her shoulder and she shoved it off. "A whole lot."

…0…


End file.
